This was received via an E-mail
sent to us by Wally Hoffman. We tried, but were not able to find
the
name of the author. She/He was a flight attendant on Delta
Flight 15 from Frankfurt to Atlanta on Septerber 11, 2001. We had
no luck contacting Delta, so if you know the author please Email
us using the link at the bottom of the story. We'd like to give
proper
credit for a very moving and well written narrative. I will add
that I can never read this without tears running down my cheeks.
Thanks.

A flight attendant
tells a story about a flight on September 11, 2001. Once again our Canadian
neighbors demonstrate what good friends they are. There have been a lot
of bad news stories circulated since the 11th. This is one of the
really good stories.

We were about 5 hours
out of Frankfurt flying over the North Atlantic and I was in my crew rest
seat taking my scheduled rest break. All of a sudden the curtains parted
violently and I was told to go to the cockpit, right now, to see the captain.
As soon as I got there I noticed that the crew had one of those "All Business"
looks on their faces. The captain handed me a printed message. I quickly
read the message and realized the importance of it. The message was from
Atlanta, addressed to our flight, and simply said, "All airways over the
Continental US are closed. Land ASAP at the nearest airport, advise your
destination."

Now, when a dispatcher
tells you to land immediately without suggesting which airport, one can
assume that the dispatcher has reluctantly given up control of the flight
to the captain. We knew it was a serious situation and we needed to find
terra firma quickly. It was quickly decided that the nearest airport was
400 miles away, behind our right shoulder, in Gander, on the island of
Newfoundland.

A quick request was
made to the Canadian traffic controller and a right turn, directly to Gander,
was approved immediately. We found out later why there was no hesitation
by the Canadian controller approving our request. We, the in-flight crew,
were told to get the airplane ready for an immediate landing. While this
was going on another message arrived from Atlanta telling us about some
terrorist activity in the New York area. We briefed the in-flight crew
about going to Gander and we went about our business 'closing down' the
airplane for a landing. A few minutes later I went back to the cockpit
to find out that some airplanes had been hijacked and were being flown
into buildings all over the US. We decided to make an announcement and
LIE to the passengers for the time being. We told them that an instrument
problem had arisen on the airplane and that we needed to land at Gander,
to have it checked. We promised to give more information after landing
in Gander. There were many unhappy passengers but that is par for the course.

We landed in Gander
about 40 minutes after the start of this episode. There were already about
20 other airplanes on the ground from all over the world. After we parked
on the ramp the captain made the following announcement. "Ladies and gentlemen,
you must be wondering if all these airplanes around us have the same instrument
problem as we have. But the reality is that we are here for a good reason."
Then he went on to explain the little bit we knew about the situation in
the US. There were loud gasps and stares of disbelief. Local time at Gander
was 12:30 pm. (11:00 AM EST)

Gander control told
us to stay put. No one was allowed to get off the aircraft. No one on the
ground was allowed to come near the aircrafts. Only a car from the airport
police would come around once in a while, look us over and go on to the
next airplane. In the next hour or so all the airways over the North Atlantic
were vacated and Gander alone ended up with 53 airplanes from all over
the world, out of which 27 were flying US flags. We were told that each
and every plane was to be offloaded, one at a time, with the foreign carriers
given the priority. We were No.14 in the US category. We were further told
that we would be given a tentative time to deplane at 6 pm. Meanwhile bits
of news started to come in over the aircraft radio and for the first time
we learned that airplanes were flown into the World Trade Center in New
York and into the Pentagon in DC.

People were trying
to use their cell phones but were unable to connect due to a different
cell system in Canada. Some did get through but were only able to get to
the Canadian operator who would tell them that the lines to the US were
either blocked or jammed and to try again. Some time late in the evening
the news filtered to us that the World Trade Center buildings had collapsed
and that a fourth hijacking had resulted in a crash.

Now the passengers
were totally bewildered and emotionally exhausted but stayed calm as we
kept reminding them to look around to see that we were not the only ones
in this predicament. There were 52 other planes with people on them in
the same situation. We also told them that the Canadian Government was
in charge and we were at their mercy. True to their word, at 6 PM, Gander
airport told us that our turn to deplane would come at 11 AM, the next
morning. That took the last wind out of the passengers and they simply
resigned and accepted this news without much noise and really started to
get into a mode of spending the night on the airplane.

Gander had promised
us any and all medical attention if needed; medicine, water, and lavatory
servicing. And they were true to their word. Fortunately we had no medical
situation during the night. We did have a young lady who was 33 weeks into
her pregnancy. We took REALLY good care of her. The night passed without
any further complications on our airplane despite the uncomfortable sleeping
arrangements. About 10:30 on the morning of the 12th we were told to get
ready to leave the aircraft.

A convoy of school
buses showed up at the side of the airplane, the stairway was hooked up
and the passengers were taken to the terminal for "processing" We, the
crew, were taken to the same terminal but were told to go to a different
section, where we were processed through Immigration and customs and then
had to register with the Red Cross. After that we were isolated from our
passengers and were taken in a caravan of vans to a very small hotel in
the town of Gander. We had no idea where our passengers were going.

The town of Gander
has a population of 10,400 people. Red Cross told us that they were going
to process about 10,500 passengers from all the airplanes that were forced
into Gander. We were told to just relax at the hotel and wait for a call
to go back to the airport, but not to expect that call for a while. We
found out the total scope of the terror back home only after getting to
our hotel and turning on the TV, 24 hours after it all started. Meanwhile
we enjoyed ourselves going around town discovering things and enjoying
the hospitality. The people were so friendly and they just knew that we
were the "Plane people". We all had a great time until we got that call,
2 days later, on the 14th at 7AM. We made it to the airport by 8:30AM and
left for Atlanta at 12:30 PM arriving in Atlanta at about 4:30PM. (Gander
is 1 hour and 30 minutes ahead of EST, yes, 1 hour and 30 minutes!) But
that's not what I wanted to tell you. What passengers told us was so uplifting
and incredible and the timing couldn't have been better.

We found out that Gander
and the surrounding small communities, within a 75 Kilometer radius, had
closed all the high schools, meeting halls, lodges, and any other large
gathering places. They converted all these facilities to a mass lodging
area. Some had cots set up, some had mats with sleeping bags and pillows
set up. ALL the high school students HAD to volunteer taking care of the
"GUESTS".

Our 218 passengers
ended up in a town called Lewisporte, about 45 Kilometers from Gander.
There they were put in a high school. If any women wanted to be in a women
only facility, that was arranged. Families were kept together. All the
elderly passengers were given no choice and were taken to private homes.
Remember that young pregnant lady, she was put up in a private home right
across the street from a 24 hour Urgent Care type facility. There were
DDS on call and they had both male and female nurses available and stayed
with the crowd for the duration. Phone calls and emails to US and Europe
were available for every one once a day. During the days the passengers
were given a choice of "Excursion" trips. Some people went on boat cruises
of the lakes and harbors. Some went to see the local forests. Local bakeries
stayed open to make fresh bread for the guests. Food was prepared by all
the residents and brought to the school for those who elected to stay put.
Others were driven to the eatery of their choice and fed. They were given
tokens to go to the local Laundromat to wash their clothes, since their
luggage was still on the aircraft. In other words every single need was
met for those unfortunate travelers. Passengers were crying while telling
us these stories. After all that, they were delivered to the airport right
on time and without a single one missing or late. All because the local
Red Cross had all the information about the goings on back at Gander and
knew which group needed to leave for the airport at what time. Absolutely
incredible.

When passengers came
on board, it was like they had been on a cruise. Everybody knew everybody
else by their name. They were swapping stories of their stay, impressing
each other with who had the better time. It was mind boggling. Our flight
back to Atlanta looked like a party flight. We simply stayed out of their
way. The passengers had totally bonded and they were calling each other
by their first names, exchanging phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses.
And then a strange thing happened. One of our business class passengers
approached me and asked if he could speak over the PA to his fellow passengers.
We never, never, allow that. But something told me to get out of his way.
I said "of course". The gentleman picked up the PA and reminded everyone
about what they had just gone through in the last few days. He reminded
them of the hospitality they had received at the hands of total strangers.
He further stated that he would like to do something in return for the
good folks of the town of Lewisporte. He said he was going to set up a
Trust Fund under the name of DELTA 15 (our flight number). The purpose
of the trust fund is to provide a scholarship for high school student(s)
of Lewisporte to help them go to college. He asked for donations of any
amount from his fellow travelers. When the paper with donations got back
to us with the amounts, names, phone numbers and addresses, it totaled
to $14.5K or about $20K Canadian. The gentleman who started all this turned
out to be an MD from Virginia. He promised to match the donations and to
start the administrative work on the scholarship. He also said that he
would forward this proposal to Delta Corporate and ask them to donate as
well.

Why, all of this? Just
because some people in far away places were kind to some strangers, who
happened to literally drop in among them? WHY NOT?

------------------------

The other side of the picture is shown by this note from a Gander resident:

It's been a hell of a week here in Gander. The stories
are amazing. We had 38 aircraft with a total of 6656 people drop by for
coffee. they stayed for 3 or four days. Our population is just under 10,000,
so you can imagine the logistics involved in giving each of these people
a place to sleep and hot meal three times a day. Many of us spent our time
bringing people home so they could get a shower or, once the rain started
on the third day, driving them to the mall or sight seeing to relieve their
boredom. The diversity of the people who have been in my car and in my
shower over the past few days is pretty wild. You should have seen the
look on my little girl's face when three Muslim women came home with me
for a shower. With their robes, she could only see their faces, hands and
feet. Their hands and feet were covered with Henna Paint and two of them
didn't speak English. There was a King from the Middle East here. A British
MP. The Mayor of Frankfurt Germany, etc. etc. There were also immigrants
from all over the world, some of whom didn't have two pennies to rub together.
They all slept side by side in schools and church halls. Except the Irish,
of course! A flight from Ireland was put up at a couple of local drinking
establishments, The Royal Canadian Legion and the Elks Club! One woman
here gave a driving tour to a fellow from the US. When she brought him
back to his gymnasium cot, they exchanged cards. She looked at his and said,
"So you work with Best Western?" He replied, "No, I own Best Western" You
should have been here, but of course, there wouldn't have been room. What
an experience!